The Miami Herald, Inc.; a Knight Ridder publication. One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693 - Saturday, December 21, 1996 Edition: Final Section: Local Page: 1B Word Count: 643
Amy Driscoll; Herald Staff Writer

"I did not commit these crimes," he said, directing a hard stare at prosecutor Susan Dechovitz. "I will keep fighting until I prove my innocence."

His defiant speech came moments after a Dade jury had convicted Perea in a retrial on charges he kidnapped an 11-year-old boy, drove him to a warehouse, repeatedly raped him and then left the boy at an intersection, shoving a $100 bill in the dazed child's hand.

Two years ago, he was convicted of the same attack -- and two other similar assaults on young boys -- but the verdicts were overturned by an appeals court for improper jury selection.

The first trial drew national attention when prosecutors charged Perea with attempted murder because he knew he carried HIV during the assaults.

Now, guilty again. This time, the cases have been separated and the AIDS-related murder charges no longer exist since an appeals court has ruled against them.

Jurors took an hour Friday to sift through three weeks of evidence and testimony to find Perea guilty of kidnapping, lewd and lascivious behavior, and four counts of sexual battery.

Possible punishment: five life sentences plus 15 years. Perea is set to be sentenced Jan. 16.

Jurors decided Perea, 35, had kidnapped the youngster on Sept. 21, 1991, as the boy tried to escape by pedaling away on his bicycle. The child was blindfolded with his own shirt, driven to a bird-supply warehouse and raped in the shower and on a mattress, Dechovitz told jurors.

Before releasing the child, Perea carefully washed him off to remove as much evidence as possible, Dechovitz said.

"He lost his innocence that day, and the person who stole it from him, the man who ravaged him and tortured him and tormented him, is this man," Dechovitz said, pointing to Perea, sitting at the defense table in coat and tie, goatee and glasses.

Dechovitz -- who prosecuted the case in 1994 as well -- also offered jurors evidence that two other boys, ages 11 and 13, had been raped by Perea the same month as the first boy. Circuit Judge Michael B. Chavies allowed the jury to hear that evidence under a law that allows cases with strong similarities to be considered as "signature" crimes. The cases of the other two boys will be prosecuted separately, she said.

"He is the man who raped each of these little boys," she said, displaying poster-size color photos of each child taken hours after the attacks.

She displayed them on an easel a few feet from jurors. The first photo: a close-up of a young boy's face, dark hair disheveled, blue eyes startled. The picture of the second boy, a three-quarters shot, brown hair again, arms dangling limply at his side. And then the third, a thin face above a bright yellow shirt, more brown hair, same blank look.

"He is the man who raped each of these little boys," Dechovitz said. "They were all little, Latin boys. They were small, easily shoved into a car, easily blindfolded, and -- eventually -- easily raped."

Defense attorney Mel Black had argued that the three children and other witnesses who identified Perea were mistaken. He pointed out differing details in their testimony, conflicts in physical descriptions of the suspects and the cars they used.

Black urged jurors to remember that members of the Perea family had testified that he was with them when two of the attacks took place.

"This is an issue of identification," Black said. "[The victims] were innocents, but that does not make them infallible in their identification."

Later, Black said the testimony of the three boys was difficult to overcome. "It's a hard kind of case to argue," he said. CAPTION: photo: IgnaciO PEREA

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